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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

It is only at the foot of these sections that cultivation to any appreciable extent is
found. The easternmost of them is the Karlik-tāgh ('The Snowy
Karlik-tāgh and
Hāmi oasis. Mountains'), and the irrigation derived from its snows accounts for the
thin string of oases along its southern slopes. ³ Those in the east about
Tāsh-bulak and Khotun-tam are small. But Hāmi or Kumul (Sheet No. 34. C,D. 3) is
larger and claims importance as its agricultural resources make it the northern bridge-head,
as it were, of the road from An-hsi which, ever since the ancient route into the Tārim basin
via Lou-lan had to be abandoned, has served as the main artery of trade and traffic between
China and Central Asia. ⁴ Here, as everywhere along the southern slopes of the Eastern
Tien-shan, irrigation is chiefly supplied by the subsoil drainage from the range gathering
in springs at the foot of the absolutely barren gravel glacis.
Surplus water, which does not percolate into the soil, or which at the time of spring
and summer floods escapes evaporation on the surface, makes its way
Terminal basin of
Shona-nör. down into a terminal basin, known as Shona-nör, usually quite dry.
The Mesa formations which surround this and some adjoining smaller
basins occasionally reached by floods from the range further west, ⁵ distinctly recall a chara-
cteristic feature of the ground near the ancient terminal basins of the Su-lo-ho and the dried-
up Lop sea.
Continuing further along the southern slopes of the Tien-shan we come to the oases of
Lapchuk—Kara-döbe where cultivation of some extent is maintained by
S. slopes of Tien-shan. subsoil drainage from the snowy part of the range above Barkul. Be-
yond them the only route westwards practicable for caravans at the
present time hugs closely the foot of the mountains. But nowhere is cultivation possible
after leaving the slopes of the Barkul portion of the range until, after travelling some 150
miles, the vicinity of the Turfan basin is reached at Chik-tam. The separate small region
represented by that basin has already received notice above.
Turning now to the opposite slopes of the Eastern Tien-shan we recognize there
conditions which clearly reflect the influence of a different climate. It
Climate of Dzungaria. is that of the wide plateaus of Dzungaria stretching northward as far
as the Altai mountains and southernmost Siberia. The abundant
grazing grounds, which moisture drawn from the north provides in Dzungaria, have at all
times attracted there waves of nomadic nations, from the Huns to the Mongols. This moister
climate affects the whole length of the northern slopes of the main Tien-shan in spite of
intervening ranges and of the drift-sand areas met with further west. In the extreme east of
the range, around Bai, ⁶ we find indeed a glacis of gravel as bare as that on the slopes to
the south. But proceeding further west we come to plentiful grazing along the north of the
Karlik-tāgh, and from the far side of the Tor-köl lake conifer forest clothes the higher
slopes as far as Barkul and beyond. ⁷
The perpetual snowbeds on this portion of the range provide ample irrigation for the
wide grassy valley which stretches down to the town of Barkul and its
Tien-shan slopes W.
of Barkul. lake, ⁸ and only scarcity of population, mainly due to political vicissi-
tudes, stands in the way of far more extensive cultivation. West of
Barkul the crest of the range sinks below the level of perpetual snow, and the amount of
water descending its slopes is correspondingly much reduced. Yet springs and small patches
of cultivation are to be found all along them, until near Mu-li-ho the route takes us to the
foot of that high snowy portion of the range which divides the Turfan basin from the fertile
tracts about Guchen. ⁹
Cultivation in the vicinity of this large town and in that of the ruined site of Pei-t'ing,
the ancient capital of the territory, is not restricted to the amply
Cultivation near
Guchen. watered alluvial fans, but is also carried on without irrigation over ex-
tensive ground immediately adjacent to the belt of forest on the